Gymnastics: Sloanhoffer No. 17 on Beam

By Shannon McNamara

|

March 21, 2011 03:52 PM

|

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Two days removed from a fourth-place finish at the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) Championship, West Virginia is nationally ranked on vault and floor, and freshman Hope Sloanhoffer is ranked on three events, in today’s GymInfo Poll.

The Mountaineers’ strongest events at the league championship on March 19, WVU sits at No. 17 on vault with a 49.08 regional qualifying score (RQS), and also ranks No. 21 on floor (49.035).

Sloanhoffer, a Cornwall, N.Y., native, is ranked No. 17 on beam with a 9.865 RQS. She earned a career-best 9.9 at Saturday’s championship and finished second overall. Sloanhoffer also ranks No. 37 on vault (9.865) and No. 48 on floor (9.855).

Junior Tina Maloney joins Sloanhoffer in the vault rankings and is slotted at No. 50 (9.85). Senior Amy Bieski, the 2011 EAGL Gymnast and Outstanding Senior of the Year, ranks No. 38 in the all-around (39.075).

Sloanhoffer’s beam RQS is fourth-best regionally. She also ranks No. 6 on vault and No. 8 on beam.

Bieski is regionally ranked on all four events and is No. 7 in the all-around. The Nanticoke, Pa., native is No. 9 on floor (9.85), No. 13 on vault (9.845), No. 15 on bars (9.795) and No. 21 on beam (9.745).

Despite finishing fourth at the championship, the Mountaineers only dropped to No. 3 overall in the EAGL. The squad continues to rank No. 1 on vault, and is No. 2 on floor, No. 4 on bars and No. 5 on beam.

Sloanhoffer ranks No. 1 on vault for the ninth straight week. She also owns the top beam spot, and is No. 4 on floor. A nine-time EAGL weekly honoree, Sloanhoffer also finished second on vault at the championship.

Maloney tied Sloanhoffer for second place on vault at the championship and ranks No. 2, while Bieski placed fifth and ranks No. 5.

Bieski also ranks No. 3 in the all-around and No. 5 on floor. She sits behind Kerwin in the bars rankings, as the duo is slotted at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively. Bieski capped off her four-year EAGL career with an outright bars title on Saturday.

The Mountaineers next compete at the 2011 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday, April 2, at 6 p.m., at the University of Georgia’s Stegeman Coliseum, in Athens, Ga.